Success in Athletics and how to obtain it

CHAPTER XXI DIET THE dietary · of the athlete is important. From the first it must be understood that there is no special diet applicable to those engaged in strenuous com– petitive events. The common sense of the individual and his experience in feeding himself makes him usually the best judge of what is good for him. There is no hard-and-fast rule. "What is one man's meat is another man's poison " was never more true as an aphorism than when applied to the athlete. It must be remembered that there are muscle-building, heat and energy-forming materials in all mixed diets. We are essentially animals who must live when in perfect health upon all foods, both the flesh of animals and vegetables~ A golden rule for the athlete would be " everything in moderation, even pleasure." One does not wish to make the athlete a martyr, living like a self-denying anchorite or recluse, and tied down by rigid discipline to an existence not far remote from misery. The athlete must be happy, hopeful, tasting of the joy of life, and capable of that ecstatic exuberance which only a well-trained man can experience. 14 209